BELLVILLE - As construction of the new Bellville and Butler elementary schools nears completion, the community has been invited to come and tour the historic Bellville School on Saturday.

Tours at the Bellville School Open House and Farewell will be 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, which also is the final day of the 168th Bellville Street Fair.

The 1894 building and the Butler School, constructed in 1915, are scheduled for demolition, although no date has been determined, Clear Fork Superintendent Janice Wyckoff said. The Hines Avenue Bellville building also will be demolished at some point. The Bellville annex, behind the old red brick school on the hill, will remain, school officials said.

There is no charge to attend the self-guided tours. Members of the Bellville-Jefferson Township Historical Society along with current and former school staff will be on hand to answer questions. The Bellville PTO will have a 50/50 drawing.

Wyckoff said both new elementary school buildings in Bellville and Butler are very much on track for opening on schedule. School officials plan to have both of the new buildings completed in December.

In Bellville, the two-story new building is being built into the grade of the hill beside the existing school. The one-story Butler building is being constructed on the empty field near the old school.

Tuesday, contractors were busy working on the new Bellville School, which is exactly 10 inches from the historic school on the hill at one spot.

The 56,000-square-foot Bellville building and 55,000-square-foot Butler building will both house pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

Elementary School Principal Stacey Swank said she is going to miss the history and the architecture of the building. "But it's time," she said.

She said everyone is looking forward to having a cafeteria and all students under one roof. For years, students have walked down to the Hines Avenue lower school building to the cafeteria for lunch daily.

Swank said with ongoing construction, first- through fifth-grade students are walking a quarter of a mile each school day to get to the lower building, traveling near the sewer plant and the tennis courts for safety reasons.

"And I am a product of the Bellville Elementary School," said Swank, who also graduated from Clear Fork High School in 1987.

Ground was broken for both new elementary buildings in October 2017.

The construction is the result of district voters' approval of a 20-year renewal of a 1 percent earned income tax in March 2016.

About one quarter of the revenue from the tax will go toward the $10 million local share of the $26 million project.

Garmann Miller and Associates is the project's architect, and Gilbane Building Company, working with Adena Corporation, is doing the construction.

School officials said light refreshments will be offered during the open house. There are very few parking places near the school. People should plan to park as they would to attend the fair and then walk over to tour the school.